Life in Geezerville: Mama and her Twins Edition

 

This summer we have a set of twins in the aspens and are they fun to watch. The two little fellows jump and leap and butt each other. They love to run figure eights between the park bench and an aspen. In fact they have created a little trough between the bench and the tree they have played so hard. 

The little spotted fellows are full of energy and their mom is too. She has the task of keeping them in line. She's very subtle with her manner, but the little guys know when they've gone over the line. 

This morning the twins were running their figure eights with particularly high jumps and leaps. She was watching them ever so closely -- after about 5 laps around the track, she put up her front left leg and the bouncing STOPPED just like that. I don't know what raising her leg meant, but the twins knew they had better stop. A couple of seconds later, she gathers them up and licks them. Reluctantly they let her lick them. But, not more than a minute into a licking, they grew restless, and since they were so close to each other, they started  butting heads. This time, she put down her head at "fawn level" and the butting stopped mid-butt. 

She's a good mom. She trying to teach her kids lessons. She does not have any words or sounds. She has relatively small head, foot and leg movements that communicate to her offspring that it's time to stop that and move on to something else. 

She has a lot to teach these bouncing babies. They have to learn how to find food, how to protect themselves from predators, how to stay safe from cars and people..and so much more. She has 4 months to teach them, and then they are on their own. 

It's high drama in the aspens. Mama lovingly guides her babies with nudges and actions and they KNOW they need to heed her lessons. The circle of life continues. It's not about politics. It's not about getting ahead with the best house or car. It's about living in harmony in the forest. So in this heated political season I'm watching my critters and trying to learn from them. Remember, we're all in this together.